Acceptance
by superscar
Summary: Rory Gilmore repeats one of her mother's more significant mistakes. RoryTristan
1. Chapter 1

Acceptance

by scarlet

A/N: The time line is a bit altered to fit the story. I've been looking for this basic plot everywhere and haven't found anything, so I'm forced to write it myself.

**Prologue**

It wasn't supposed to be the way it turned out. There were goals. A detailed layout in Rory Gilmore's day planner. But they were useless at this point. Destroyed by an act she could barely remember.

And that's what hurt the worst. That the fates hated her enough to exact vengeance upon that one night of stupidity. A harsh lesson there was no getting out of.

Of course there was that persistent voice in her head whispering it could be worse - it could be HIV.

God. Rory threw all three mocking pregnancy tests in the trash and covered them with almost the entire Kleenex box.

All her mother ever wanted was for this scenario to never play out. This _exact _scenario.

But here she was, sixteen and pregnant. Just like Lorelai.

"Heyyyy!" Lorelai grabbed her the second she was out of the bathroom. "I was thinking - quick fix at Luke's and on to last minute school shopping... you could get that cute little My Little Pony bag you've always wanted! What was that yellow one you begged for every day?"

"Posey," Rory smiled, "It was a younger, more innocent time."

"Ohhh, honey, if this is you jaded, you're in for some rude shocks," her mother pat her arm sympathetically.

"Yeah," Rory choked, sucker punched.

Lorelai's eyes narrowed, like the sixth mom sense kicked in and she'd honed in on that waver in Rory's voice or the pain in her eyes. "What's wrong, honey?"

It was a horrible moment. She wanted to shrug off the question and raise the issue again over a nice burger and calmly discuss her options like an adult, but she couldn't. She wasn't. Rory burst into tears and clung to Lorelai as she had all her life - as she wasn't ready to stop doing. "Oh, mom, I'm sorry."

"Oh, kiddo, what's wrong?" Lorelai rubbed her back soothingly and Rory just wanted to curl into her mother's strength and let her fix everything. Like when she'd skinned her knee or wanted to go to Chilton.

"I ruined everything," Rory snuffled into her, "I didn't know- I didn't...I just want it back."

"Sweetie, is it Dean? You could work it out-"

"Nooo," Rory practically wailed as yet another horrible part of this nightmare occurred to her – the fact that Dean would find out, he would know. There was no hiding from him, he lived in the same town! "We have to move," she muttered.

Lorelai chuckled, "Honey, what is it? I'm sure that whatever it is, we won't have to give up the house."

"You don't know what it is."

"There is nothing that you could have possibly done that is that terrible, Rory, just sit down." Lorelai led her to the couch and picked up the phone. "Now, we're going to have to re-arrange our day," she hit speed dial, "Hey! Jody, Lorelai, we want extra pepperoni and cheesy bread."

Rory wiped away her tears as her mother re-arranged their schedule for a nice day of wallow-age. "I love you mom."

"Back atcha kiddo," Lorelai smiled and Rory wanted to cry all over again. She loved her mother more than anything and here she was, about to take a wrecking ball to her heart.

As her mother settled into the couch to face her, to wait upon this horrible news that didn't really exist until she said the words, Rory prayed for a way out, something that didn't make her that girl, that statistic. A complete and total disappointment.

"You're scaring me, kiddo, what is it? Nothing could ever make me stop loving you, you know that..."

"Stop," Rory shook her head and wiped the tears burning her eyes, "You're just making me feel worse."

Lorelai fidgeted and Rory could tell she was trying to think of the perfect joke to lighten the mood, so she just had to get it out there.

"I had sex," she blurted quickly and braced herself for the reaction, closing her eyes tight.

Nothing.

She opened one eye slightly and Lorelai exhaled slowly.

"Honey, why would you apologize?"

"I just- I wasn't supposed to-" Rory tried to explain before she revealed the next bit of information.

"You were safe, right?" Lorelai said it like it was a foregone conclusion and Rory cringed.

"I can't really... remember," Rory lay her head in in hands as her mother groaned.

"You're not..."

"I am," she swallowed, "I'm pregnant."

And that was it. Her life was over.

* * *

Her baby was pregnant. All the pain in the world that Lorelai wanted to protect her from was going to be there – the future she'd tried to give her...

Just like that: It was over.

Like mother, like daughter.

"Tell me what happened, baby. Does Dean know yet?"

"No," Rory shook her head slowly, "Mom, he's...he's not the father."

The doorbell rang. Lorelai didn't move.

"Umm...mom...pizza?"

"Right!" Lorelai leaped to her feet as her mind spun. Who on _earth _could be the father?

* * *

Her mother hadn't spoken since Rory dropped the 'It's not Dean' bomb. She just sat there, chewing her cheesy bread until she was finished and reached down automatically to pick up a second piece.

"Mom-"

It was like she came out of a trance and blinked, "Oh, sorry, did you want it?"

"No...well, yeah," she picked up a piece for herself, "But I need you to talk to me, mom, please."

"Do I know him?"

"He's been...mentioned," Rory felt it was a good time to concentrate on the pizza.

"You haven't mentioned any boys," Lorelai frowned, "Not that you _like _anyway."

Rory saw the moment that it clicked for Lorelai, that there was only one other male she'd talked about besides Dean, and he'd been making her life hell for quite some time.

"Oh my God... What was his name again?"

"Tristan," Rory reminded her, "Tristan DuGrey."

* * *

The first day of school passed by in a blur of nothing. The teachers barely bothered to prepare a lesson because everyone was too busy talking about their spring vacation, so Rory could concentrate on what she really wanted to think about – the lack of solution to her current problem.

It was strange how she almost missed him. The way he walked down the halls like they were his and called her Mary like she should be flattered he'd given her a nickname.

Arrogant ass.

"Rory!" Madeline and Louise grabbed onto her arms and propelled her down the hallway with them, "How was your summer!"

"Umm, great," Rory nodded, "Sex, drugs and rock 'n roll."

Louise laughed, "Really – wonder if we have the same taste... In the music, of course," she winked.

"Never know."

"Did you _hear _that Tristan got shipped off to military school?" Madeline asked and Rory's heart thudded to her annoyance. It was a mistake with...lasting results, it didn't have to mean anything.

God damn pregnancy hormones.

"I heard," Rory pretended that it didn't matter. Her grandparents had been the ones to let it slip at one of their Friday night dinners. Apparently, the trouble he was giving his parents was a 'damn shame' and he'd seemed like 'such a nice young man.'

She hadn't let them in on the drunken night of debauchery during which she'd lost her virginity. It was something she didn't like to think about. That denial had worked out well for her until she missed a period.

"Soooo, are you still with that hot guy? Dean, right?" Louise giggled. "Tall? Shaggy?"

"Ummm...no, we're taking some time off."

"Wow, you make it sound so adult," Madeline seemed impressed.

Rory wished she felt half as adult as she apparently sounded.

* * *

It was another month before Lorelai flat out asked her what she was going to do.

Her intelligent answer was, "Oh. Ummm...I dunno."

"You know that one of your options slips away more and more as time passes," Lorelai said meaningfully.

"Yeah," Rory looked away. Being the illegitimate daughter born to a sixteen year old girl had a certain affect on one's perspective. It was difficult to put any real thought into abortion when one could have easily been the victim of it. And if her mother could manage to raise her – the only thing the abortion came off as was utterly and completely selfish.

"What do you want to do, Ror?"

"Grab a D'Lorian, go back in time and castrate Tristan?" she asked hopefully.

Lorelai grinned, "Points for color."

"I try."

"Kid, raising a child was the hardest thing I've ever done."

"But have you ever regretted it?"

Lorelai sighed, "Never."

"I wanted to be a foreign news correspondent," Rory sighed and looked at her mother curiously, "What did you want to be?"

"Free."

* * *

Rory went on a studying frenzy up until Christmas and Lorelai picked up extra shifts at the Inn. She came home demanding foot rubs, a request Rory obliged immediately.

"Mom, this is my problem," she'd tried to argue one day, "I should get a job, not you!"

"Honey, you're pregnant, even if you could deal with your coursework AND a job for a few months, that will change soon, believe me."

"You did it, mom..."

"Rory, I didn't have a choice. You do. You and me, kid – when I walked out of my parents house, that's what I promised and that's how it's gonna be."

"I love you, mom."

"Excellent," Lorelai smiled and wiggled her toes expectantly.

* * *

It wasn't until the day before Christmas that someone at Chilton finally put the pieces together. After Tristan left, it seemed as though barely anyone paid attention to her, something she'd been supremely grateful for when her clothing sizes started to grow up and up.

She was in the Cafeteria, huddled in the corner, working out, in her head, not for the first time, the huge challenge ahead of her if she still wanted to go to college. Any college. Harvard was pretty much out of the question at this point.

"Fight! Fight!" shouts broke out and food started flying everywhere.

As much as people would like to have you believe that something like that could not happen at a prep school such as Chilton, Rory had discovered that any place that held teenage boys would soon find itself home to a food fight.

Her only goal was to escape and she moved to do it quickly.

But she didn't do it before people starting throwing their drinks – drenching her large white shirt and gluing it to her no longer flat stomach.

"Oh my God," Rory heard Madeline's voice first as she unsuccessfully attempted to cover her abdomen. "Rory, are you pregnant?"

It was as though the food stopped mid-flight while everyone in the room turned to stare at her.

To Be Continued...


	2. Chapter 2

Acceptance

by scarlet

A/N: Hi.

Chapter One

When Rory first began wondering what people would think and say when she finally started showing, she'd been sitting on her toilet holding a pregnancy test. Now, after freaking out about it for months, the day arrived.

"Rory, let's get you cleaned up," Madeline grabbed her hand quickly and rushed her into the girl's bathroom before Rory could even start to process what happened.

Louise, Paris and almost the entire female student body tried to follow, but a few extremely sharp words from Paris and the chair they jammed under the door knob changed most of their minds.

"I cannot _believe _you didn't tell us!" Louise just gaped at Rory, "Maybe we _do _like the same bands, Gilmore! So you must be back with Dean now, right?"

"No...he's not..."

"Oh my God, is this why he left?" Paris was already on a man-hating rampage, "What a jack ass! Who would just abandon their pregnant girlfriend?"

"My dad," Rory muttered, he was the first to come to mind.

The girls just stared at her, remembering for the first time who her mother was, how _young _her mother was.

"So you're gonna keep it, right? That's why you're still..." Louise gestured to her belly.

"Yeah...that's the plan."

"Clearly you're a great planner," Paris muttered wryly and Rory's stomach tightened as she remembered all those perfect, simple goals.

"I think you're brave," Madeline looked her in the eye for a second and then looked away, "I'd never be able to do that...that's all."

Sadness. Rory frowned and stepped toward the girl who'd tried to rescue her from the Lion's Den. "Madeline..."

The expression was gone when the brunette looked back and she smiled – sunny, friendly...and completely fake.

Rory's hand went to her stomach, perhaps trying to protect her child from the realization that just shot through her mind.

"They're going to eat you alive, Gilmore," Paris sighed, "I hope it's worth it."

"Me too," Rory nodded.

* * *

When she finally emerged from the bathroom, surrounded on all sides by people she didn't even fully consider friends all the time, she felt lucky – protected. But that was, of course, before she remembered that they weren't in all her classes.

Part of the problem with sitting in the middle of the class was the number of people behind you, whispering, without the advantage of being right in front of the teacher.

"So," the guy next to her leaned over and winked at her, "Guess you're not the prude we thought you were, huh, _Mary_?"

The kid had never even hung out with Tristan, but apparently the asshole void could be filled by anyone. "Luckily you are the moron we thought you were, Matt, so I guess the world is right once again."

Matt just smiled, "Honey, I use condoms."

"I'm sure your boyfriend appreciates it," Rory muttered under her breath.

"So what else did you learn from your Mom? Any tricks you'd like to show me?" he asked in a voice that surely he meant to be suggestive.

The girl next to him snickered and he winked at her. Rory just looked at the tittering idiot. Michelle was it? Males, she expected to be mildly retarded in any circumstance relating at all to sex, but another girl? It was disheartening.

"Hey, I didn't knock you up," Michelle sneered at her, "Maybe just keep your panties on next time."

Right. Rory looked forward as the class began. Her eyes stung but she just kept looking up and focusing until it went away. She'd expected this, at least in part. People sucked. That was just how it was.

* * *

Rory's pillow was soaked by the time her mom got home.

"Honey! What is it?" Lorelai rushed to rub her back as Rory shrugged. Her energy was gone, but tears still leaked from her eyes.

"They know," she muttered. "Everyone knows."

"Awww, kiddo. What happened?"

"Lots of staring and free advice," Rory shrugged, "Maybe I should keep my legs closed next time and all," she dug her head into her pillow as she relived the humiliation.

"Maybe they should keep their mouth closed next time, until they maybe have a fucking clue what they're talking about," Lorelai muttered.

"Fuck isn't a nice word, mom," Rory smiled.

"Shhh! Not in front of the baby!" Lorelai put her hands on either side of Rory's stomach.

* * *

"I changed my mind, we have to back out," Rory tried to figure out how to back their car out of her grandparents' driveway while her mother was still driving it.

"Ror, they have to find out some day."

"We can call them, we should have called them."

"We did call them. You chickened out."

"Right, but _you _can call them this time," Rory suggested.

"What happened to 'this is my responsibility?'" Lorelai looked amused.

"Screw it, let's go with experience."

"All due respect to, you know, me, but my experience? All bad. No silver lining."

"We could just never tell them! We'll say we just thought we'd adopt a kid off the streets."

"Sorry, hon, no control top pantyhose on earth will be able to help you in a week or so."

"That's only to people looking closely..."

Lorelai didn't say anything, but she didn't need to. No one but Lorelai knew better than Rory that Emily Gilmore didn't miss anything. The fact that she hadn't been previously aware of her granddaughter's condition was only due to their creative excuses for skipping out the last few weeks.

"I should have told her," Rory groaned as she got out of the car and they made the trek of doom up the sidewalk.

Lorelai rang the door bell. "Ten bucks says she blames me within 30 seconds of finding out."

"Only have ten cents."

"Might as well hand it over."

The door opened and the newest maid in the Gilmore household ushered them into the foyer.

"Well, well, if it isn't Lorelai and Rory," Emily stepped into the room, "Oh no Rory, go ahead and let Maybelle take your coat, I already know you're pregnant. Lorelai, what sort of drink would you like – you're not in the family way again too, are you? Perhaps I heard the story wrong?"

Rory froze and the maid slipped her jacket from her fingers.

"Well, don't just gape at me, young lady, surely you thought word would get around after your little display at school today – really, Rory, a food fight? Lorelai, what on earth have you been teaching her?"

"DING! And that's the game, folks. Your dime is mine, kiddo, pony up," Lorelai held out her hand and Rory rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, Lorelai, does anything you have to say make sense?" Emily tisked, "Well, come on, then, what did you want to drink, Rory?"

"Anything, it doesn't matter," Rory mumbled.

"Well, of course it matters, Rory," Emily lead them to the sitting room, "You obviously can't have alcohol or caffeine, but I'm not up to date on all the current pregnancy information, so I can't just pick something out of thin air, now can I? 50 years ago I could have handed you a glass of wine and the child would end up deformed-"

"Orange Juice," Rory spit out the first thing that came to mind.

"Ahh, good, I brought the juices out just in case. Lorelai?"

"The more alcohol, the better."

"Lorelai, Rory, it's good to see you," Richard Gilmore walked into the room, "I hear there are congratulations in order, Rory."

He made it sound as though she wasn't the biggest disappointment of his life and it made Rory love him that much more for it.

"Yes, well...I'm sorry that you had to hear it from someone other than me. The reason that I came here tonight-"

"Instead of canceling like last week," Emily threw in.

Rory ignored her. Lorelai slammed her drink.

"...was I wanted to tell you, myself, that I am pregnant, I am planning to keep the baby and I would appreciate your emotional support through this... And...I'm so sorry if I've disappointed you... I disappointed me too."

* * *

They melted. Lorelai watched as tears clouded her daughters eyes and her parents fell for it. How could they not? Rory had always been the sweetest child and she didn't deserve this. She should be having her first baby after she landed her dream job and married her perfect boyfriend.

Rory wasn't the rebel Lorelai had been in her situation, she was just a kid.

"Are you planning to stay in school?" Richard was the one to ask. It hadn't been a question he'd asked Lorelai, he'd just assumed that she would. He'd assumed a lot back then... apparently he wasn't planning to repeat the mistake.

"Yes, of course," Rory had nodded enthusiastically, "As long as I can. I may not be able to go to college right away... but I'll make it happen."

"Are you going to be all right financially?" Her mother's largest concern, of course.

"We'll be fine," Lorelai spoke up.

"So you are going to stay at home, then."

"It makes the most sense right now," Rory nodded.

"Are you and your boyfriend making any...long term commitment?" Emily tried to be tactful and Rory blushed.

"No, ma'am, not right now."

Lorelai raised an eyebrow at Rory, who refused to meet her eyes. Apparently Richard and Emily hadn't made the need-to-know list on the child's parentage and she really couldn't blame her daughter since they were pretty much guaranteed to throw a hissy fit. But if Tristan were ever going to come back to the picture at all... they were sure to find out and it begged a question that Lorelai hadn't really even thought to ask before.

Was Rory even planning to tell him?

* * *

"There's no way I'm going in there," Rory shook her head fearfully at Doose's Market, a place she'd been avoiding more and more as her pregnancy progressed.

"He'll find out. Once Babette gets wind of it, he'll be the next to know."

"So we'll hide from Babette too, please, Mom? I just want to eat my cheetos and watch TV right now."

"I can see my genetic code just popping out of you right now. Makes me so proud," Lorelai smiled, "One large bag of cheetos, coming up!"

She started walking in and Rory rolled down her window, "And oreos!"

"Well, yeah," Lorelai gave her a weird look, "No one gets _just _cheetos, Rory, don't be ridiculous."

The door closed and Rory started rolling up her window back up.

"Rory?" She knew the voice and wondered if she could still slip down in her seat without him noticing.

"Dean – hey," she smiled and wrapped her arms around her body in a gesture that she hoped he mistook as a sign she was cold. It was, after all, winter, and she was sitting there like a moron with the window open.

"Hey...I've been meaning to call you. We left things, kinda unsettled, awhile ago, right? I mean, we should at least be friends..."

They had left things unsettled, but Rory was fairly sure if she just lifted her shirt a bit all their issues would be resoundingly settled. Nothing to talk about. And friendship was most likely out of the question.

"It's been...a long time, but I sort of freaked out on you, I know, so if you don't want to or anything-"

"No, no, that's fine, we should get together sometime. Definitely."

"Cool, good..." he looked so hopeful Rory wanted to cry.

"Well, I should get back in...my break's been over for a few minutes and I'm freezing, but I'll see you later, Rory," he smiled.

She'd always loved the sweetness in his smile. It seemed unlikely she'd be seeing much of it in the future.

* * *

The end of Christmas break came way too quickly.

"You'll be brilliant, just ignore all the idiots, or, you know, kick 'em in the balls, whatever suits your fancy."

"You have an interesting parenting style, Mom," Rory smiled as Lorelai dropped her off at school as a kind of 'Welcome back to hell' present.

If Rory thought that people would have 'forgotten' or 'gotten over' the little drama with her pregnancy, it wasn't the case. The stares and whispers still followed her from class to class and people with no apparent problem with her pre-knock up now found it their duty to advise her on a little thing called birth control.

Lunch was a welcome change and Rory almost hoped for a food fight just to take people's attention off her for two seconds and she maneuvered belly skillfully into place under the table next to Paris.

Louise across from her and smiled when she sat down, "Start kicking yet, Gilmore?"

"Not sure," Rory shrugged, "Sometimes I think so, other times? No idea. I heard it feels like gas, though..."

Paris made a face, "Thanks for that."

"No problem," Rory munched on her fries.

"So, guess what," Louise got her attention, "No, no, you'll never guess, I'll just tell you. Paris just let me in on the next big thing."

"Did I miss out on an E! special over the break?"

Louise rolled her eyes, "No! The thing that gets attention off of you! The next big juicy scandal!"

"Oh. Cool, what is it?"

"Tell her, Paris."

"It's really not that big of a deal," Paris rolled her eyes, "Tristan got kicked out of military school."


	3. Chapter 3

Acceptance

by scarlet

A/N: I have been trying to load this chapter since Sunday night, not totally sure what the deal is, but if you're in a particular hurry for updates, the best place to go is Gumboot Mafia, linked in my profile. They always get it first.

Chapter Two:

Tristan looked around his empty room, not even able to process that everything in the world he considered "his" was gone.

"You just... sold my stuff?" he tried to meet his father's eye, but as usual, it wasn't happening.

"To pay for the semester you wasted, yes," John DuGrey agreed, "Some things are in boxes in the garage – everything we couldn't get something for on eBay."

"You know how to sell things on eBay?"

"I had it done."

"It's in a junk heap somewhere, isn't it?" He'd seen his father with a computer and there was no way he could have done what he claimed. Not by himself, anyway.

Mr. DuGrey pursed his lips, "Feel free to look if you wish. There are new rules in this house. If you waste my money, you pay me back. Simple."

"So don't spend money on me, dad, what the fuck- Don't send me off to expensive military schools and then freak out when oh, shock, I don't _like it there._"

"I heard you liked it a little _too _much there," his dad muttered.

Tristan grinned. "Well, sure, it had its upside."

"Do you even want an education? Do you want to go to college?" his father sneered at him and Tristan wasn't sure what to say.

It suddenly mattered what _he _wanted?

"Uhh...I wasn't aware I had options."

"Life is full of options. You can choose to go to Chilton for the rest of the semester, get good grades and _maybe _I will consider not finding another military school stupid enough to take you. Or you can choose to flunk out and leave this house. I won't support you ruining your life."

Tristan was too shocked to move as his father left. This was it? The ultimatum? Was that three options? Two?

The obvious choice was playing the good boy for awhile at Chilton. Much as he despised his parents, he was honest enough to realize that he was way too much of a pansy ass to be able to survive on the streets by himself at this point.

Besides... he'd been rather curious how Mary'd been making it without him...

* * *

As Tristan slipped into his Chilton uniform once again, he couldn't help but smile. He had another chance... of sorts. The semester wasn't over for another three weeks to prove to his father that sending him away would be a mistake... or find alternate living arrangements. 

When he arrived in the garage to find his Porsche had somehow turned into a used Hyundai, Tristan decided it was time to start looking for apartments.

By the time he got to the front door, he was running a little late. It took time to find a parking space off school grounds and there was no fucking way he was letting anyone see him drive up in that...that. He couldn't dwell on it, it was too depressing.

He was hoping to blame his late arrival on the fact that he didn't have a class schedule yet, so it was a little hard to know where he was going.

SMASH! Books went flying as did the girl he'd inadvertently run into.

"Tristan!" her eyes widened in shock and he smirked. "What are you doing here?"

"Confronting my mistakes head on... apparently."

Summer glared at him. "Cute."

"I try."

She started stuffing her books back into her bag and he very gentlemanly walked around them.

"Sorry, I'd help...but I'm running late and you know how I like to stay punctual."

Summer pursed her lips angrily and looked about to say something along her usual line of 'fuck off' when her expression changed and she smiled.

There was no possible good that could come of this and Tristan glanced around frantically for a place to hide.

"You know you missed a lot while you were away," she slung her book bag over her shoulder. "Andy and Rachel finally broke up. The wrestling team got busted for streaking at Homecoming. Oh! And Rory Gilmore got pregnant."

Tristan froze.

"Welcome back to Chilton," Summer smiled.

* * *

It took him a surprisingly short amount of time to find the office since he hadn't even realized he was moving. All his focus was on his stomach... on the floor, in the hall where he left it. 

"Mr. DuGrey, so good to see you."

Tristan blinked and took in his surroundings. "Me?"

The secretary at the desk looked amused, "Is there another DuGrey with you?"

"No," he shook his head.

"I suppose you're here for your schedule?" she held a piece of paper out to him helpfully and he stared at it.

He took it from her hand automatically and stared at it. Eventually the words came into focus. "This is my schedule."

"Tristan, are you feeling okay?" she looked concerned and he tried to think of the proper response to her question.

"Yeah," he nodded, "great," he nodded again. "Peachy, even."

"Well, then, welcome back to Chilton... did you need help finding your classes?"

"No."

She watched him expectantly as he chewed on his lip. "You can...go now."

"Right," he spun around and pushed through the door.

* * *

He was being ridiculous and he knew it. Summer had and always would be completely full of shit and he couldn't believe that he was entertaining the idea that _Rory Gilmore _of all people could have even had sex, let alone got pregnant, in the few short months he'd been away. 

For the first time, he started to pay attention to his schedule, wondering when he'd run into Rory. Was she in his first class? Second? Honors English was a pretty good bet, there were only a few of those... but that wasn't until 5th and he couldn't wait that long to find out.

He burst through the door of his first period class and scanned the faces quickly. Nothing. She wasn't there.

Almost every mouth dropped and it occurred to him belatedly that such spastic behavior wasn't quite the Returning Hero impression he wanted to make.

"That was...quite an entrance," the teacher blinked at him, "Tristan DuGrey?"

"That's me...had to get my schedule," he shook it to make some sort of point.

"Do you have a pass?"

A pass. Damn. "Oh...I..."

The teacher grabbed something out of Tristan's other hand. "Thanks, just take your seat, Tristan, I'm Mrs. O'Donnell."

She put the pass on her desk and Tristan replayed the events in the office, trying to remember how, exactly, it came to be in his hand when he hadn't even felt it there.

"There's a free seat back there next to Matt," Mrs. O'Donnell smiled, "Welcome back to Chilton."

He slid into a seat she mentioned. Matthew Genessey was an acquaintance from way back, one of those who always tried to be a little cooler than he was. Tristan had never been particularly fond of him, but they were friendly none the less. Both of their parents gave them porches for their 16th birthday. Tristan grimaced. Lucky bastard probably still had his.

"DuGrey," the kid nodded.

"Genessey," Tristan acknowledged his presence.

"Heard you got kicked out of military school – how'd you manage that one?"

"The headmaster had a daughter," Tristan shrugged.

"Ahhhh, of course," Matt snickered, "The Legendary Conquests of Tristan DuGrey."

"You're quite the gossip queen, it's a little creepy."

"Shut up, dude, how was military school?"

"Like it sounds – combines two bad themes to make a worse one."

"That blows."

"Yeah," Tristan didn't particularly want to get into it with Matt, who he really barely knew and liked less despite hanging out with the same people for most of high school.

"DUDE! Didn't you have a thing for Gilmore back in the day?"

Tristan tensed, not liking where the question could lead. "She's a good kid."

Matt laughed, "And _speaking _of kids, our own Miss Mary Madelene is going to be having one."

The confirmation of truth burned through his heart, but he shrugged it off, "So I hear."

Disappointment flooded the other boy's face, "Who told you?"

"Summer."

"Damn... that bitch has the biggest mouth."

Tristan didn't even bother to respond. He tried to focus on the actual class going on, but all he could think of were Rory's big, blue, innocent eyes... the way they locked on Dean at the dance. Widened in surprise when he said something nice... narrowed again in anger when he took it back somehow.

How could _Mary _have become that girl that got pregnant in high school? He couldn't even comprehend it.

"...ironic, right?"

"What?" Tristan had no idea what Matt was babbling about now.

"You know... the second generation of scandal to the Gilmores?"

If possible, he felt even sicker. He'd forgotten about that. If his parents had freaked out about getting kicked out of military school, how could her family be reacting to _this? _

Tristan was almost positive that he would be disowned if it were him. Lucky for Rory, her mom could see more where she was coming from.

God. Rory pregnant. As though he didn't have enough obstacles to deal with, it just made her that much more unattainable.

What shocked him most wasn't the fact that she'd had sex. In fact, he had worked out several ways in which she could have actually gotten pregnant without having it and the more he pondered it, the more he convinced himself that this was the most likely scenario. No, the real head scratcher was the fact that Rory Gilmore had step by stepped her way to Harvard in her Day Planner. Even if she _did _decide to have sex, she'd probably have at least three forms of birth control.

The worst thing he'd ever even seen her do was take one drink at Madeline's party six months ago. He, himself, had blacked out in the first hour and woke up on his own steps at 5 AM the next morning. It didn't seem fair that Fate was after Rory when it seemed like so many people were far more deserving of its wrath. Him included.

The bell rang and Tristan stared at the clock. Had he really spent 50 minutes obsessing about Rory Gilmore's... unfortunate situation? He was truly losing it. She wasn't his girlfriend. They'd never even kissed, unless he counted a few particularly vivid dreams he'd had at military school ...and they'd done more than kiss. He smiled.

"Dude...were you planning to like, leave class?" Matt was eying him strangely.

Tristan headed out the door... and was hit by a flying Madeline.

"Oh my God, Tristan! You're back!" she clung to him, "LOUISE!" she screamed down the hall and he winced. "Look who's back!"

Everybody turned but one and he could see her trying to escape at the other end of the hall.

His feet were moving suddenly as he took off after her, flying by Louise as she approached and leaving Madeline stumbling for balance. Nothing was in his head except a blur of movement as he rounded the corner through the swinging door of the girl's bathroom.

"Tristan..." Rory just gaped at him as he recovered from his sprint, breathing hard.

There was no way to pretend he hadn't been following her, that he was somehow there, in the girl's bathroom, just waiting for his next class.

His eyes roamed her body, taking in the generous growth of her abdomen and cup size. There was a natural beauty and innocence that pierced through him and he wanted to apologize, even knowing he had nothing to do with it.

A sudden, horrible thought occurred to him and he though it crossed all possible boundaries of privacy and completely not his business, the words were there on his tongue and he made no attempt to stop them. "Were you attacked?"

Rory frowned, "What? I-," then her eyes went huge and she realized what he was asking, "NO!" she stated firmly, "No, I wasn't attacked."

His knees felt suspiciously weak and Tristan put his hand on the sink for balance. "Thank God."

Rory was examining her shoes and he couldn't think of anything else to say...but as long as he was prying into her personal business... "So...who's the father?"

She was shocked by the question, more shocked than she had been by the last one, if that was possible. He could tell by the way her eyes tripled in size and her mouth dropped as she stared at him.

And yes, it was none of his business, but surely she was used to him asking highly personal questions. Honestly.

A toilet flushed and he winced as Paris opened the door of the stall and glared at him. There seriously couldn't be a worse person to have witnessed this and he wondered if he'd be able to escape without her throwing the soap dispenser at him.

"Tristan, what are you thinking?" she didn't wait for a response, just continued to ream him, "You're back for what, ten minutes, and you're already harassing Rory in the girls fucking bathroom? You're completely losing it!"

She wasn't wrong, was the sad thing.

"Paris-" Rory tried to cut in.

"Her boyfriend, Dean, remember him? Tall? Questionable hair choice, no offense, Rory. That would be the father. Honestly, Tristan, who else would it be? And what are you _still _doing in the girls bathroom, you moron?"

Tristan immediately started backing toward the door, eager for any opportunity to escape her and the truth coming out of her mouth. "I'm sorry," he muttered, looking at Rory before he turned around to push through the door.

"No, stop," her gentle voice stopped him and he turned back as Rory slid to the ground and tears poured down her cheeks.

"Are you okay?" His heart crunched, hard, inside of him. How could he do this to her? She was pregnant.

Rory just cried harder.

"Rory? Should I call your mom? Dean?" Paris knelt down next to her and Tristan was jealous she'd thought of it first.

"Not Dean," Rory shook her head, "It's Tristan."

It didn't make any sense, but he liked hearing his name on her lips.

Paris stroked her back, "It's okay, you don't have to talk, just breathe."

"No!" Rory flinched from her friend's attempts to soothe her and met Tristan's eyes, "The answer to your question is you. You're the father."

Tristan felt his ass hit the floor before he was aware his knees failed him.

His dad was going to go fucking ballistic. But on the upside, his chances with Rory had just improved dramatically.


	4. Chapter 4

Acceptance, Chapter Three

by superscar

He smiled at her.

It was the last possible thing she'd expected. Rory wasn't entirely sure he'd understood her until he crawled into the closest stall and puked in the toilet.

Paris just stood there, staring at her and Rory tried not to meet her eyes.

"But you told us..."

"I didn't, actually, I just didn't correct you."

"I see," Paris sighed, "The school is going to go crazy over this."

"Lovely," Rory leaned her head against the wall, just wanting to go to sleep for a year or so.

Tristan walked slowly out of the stall and rinsed his mouth out at the sink.

"So," he ventured finally, "It had to have been the party, right? I hope you'll forgive me if I don't particularly remember the evening."

Rory shrugged, "I remember a lot of drinking...and... enough of everything else to have a pretty good idea what happened."

"But it's definitely mine."

"If you want a test or something -"

"No!" he slid to his knees next to her and pressed his lips into her palm. Given their current relationship, it wasn't particularly appropriate but Rory didn't have the will to stop him. "If you say it's me, I believe you."

Paris snorted, "Because it's your fantasy come to life?"

"God, Paris, can't you shut up for two seconds?" Tristan glared at her, "Having a moment here."

"Right, well, I have to get to class, you might consider it as well."

She walked out the door.

* * *

Tristan was fully conscious of the fact that he was still holding Rory's hand and she had made absolutely no move to stop him. He had no clue what to do in this situation other than keep sitting there next to her and decided to wait for her cue to do more.

"I'm sorry about her," Rory muttered.

"Paris is Paris, always better to have her on your side...you guys seem closer than you used to be."

"Understatement," Rory smiled, "She's a good friend. You know, in her way."

"I'm glad," he nodded, but he really want to talk about Paris.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away, I just...panicked," she confessed.

"I care about you a lot, you know that, right?" it seemed very important at that moment that she did, that she didn't think he was after her in some sort of 'she's a challenge' teen movie kind of way.

She squeezed his hand and the pressure traveled straight to his heart. "I care about you too."

"What class do you have next?" was all he could think of to say to stop himself from blurting out something embarrassing, like a proposal.

"Chemistry."

He checked his schedule and smiled, "Shall we, then?" he stood up and offered her his arm.

* * *

Tristan opened every door for her, Rory couldn't help but notice. As though pulling open such a large door on her own would break her or harm her in some way that he couldn't allow.

The voice inside her that this was the same jackass that made her life hell for almost a year was all but drowned by the reminder that people changed. That he cared about her. Maybe he wouldn't be the boy her own father had been.

Girls swarmed around him to welcome him back as the bell rang. Rory quickly took her seat to get away from them. People weren't her favorite this year and she'd learned to just avoid them as much as possible. Tristan slipped into the desk right behind her and she was relieved. It was always the person behind her most likely to lean forward with comments or shake her desk with their feet just to be a jackass.

The teacher started talking about the periodic table and that's when she felt his hands on her lower back. She stiffened at the intimacy and was about to turn around and yell at him when he began rubbing slowly and her eyes slid shut in pleasure. One thing she particularly hated about pregnancy was how she had to heft her stomach around and her back ached constantly.

How he had known that, she had no idea, but she was positive that this wasn't the Tristan she was familiar with and was quite impressed with that military school for whipping him into such excellent shape in the little time they had.

The kneading motion his thumbs followed made her ache with ecstasy. She actually moaned aloud.

"Something wrong, Ms. Gilmore?" her chemistry teacher, Mr. Norton inquired.

"No!" she shook her head quickly and looked around for a convenient place to die.

"Mr. Norton?" Tristan asked.

"Yes, Mr..." he consulted his seating chart, "DuGrey, what can I do for you?"

"I don't have a book for this class yet, could I follow along with Ms. Gilmore?"

And here she'd been thinking how much less annoying he'd become.

"Not to fear, I have extras," Mr. Norton handed him a text book and Rory turned to frown at Tristan reproachfully in the few seconds the teacher had his back turned.

Tristan shrugged innocently. "Worth a try," he whispered.

She tried not to let him see her smile.

* * *

Tristan was having the most spectacular day. It seemed appropriate, in away, that once his father got ahold of him, it would also probably be his last. He should at least make the most of it.

The way she moaned when he massaged her back was so openly sensual, he was instantly sweating.

There had to be something not all together right with him to be lusting after her during a time like this, but he'd always been a little too horny and way too obsessed with her to be considered normal.

He and Rory Gilmore had actually had _sex. _ There was no getting over it. Tristan tried to breathe slowly to get his body under control as his mind fed him image after image of how it might have been. Might, being the key phrase because he couldn't even fucking remember it. That was the ultimate cruelty.

Perhaps he would get another chance. If she'd given in once, surely now, she'd be even more likely to cave?

He felt dirty even contemplating the issue with Rory there, taking notes right in front of him, like the dutiful little goodie goodie she was. Surely even thinking of her in such a base, sexual way was a violation. But Tristan had never been particularly good at controlling his fantasies.

What did an angel like her taste like?

It was far too dangerous a question and Tristan tried to focus on the chemistry book in front of him before he ignored the rest of the class and tested the issue.

Even his impending death couldn't stop his feeling of completely insane excitement. He knew that his life as he knew it was basically over, even if his father allowed him to live, there was like, responsibility now and shit...not something he'd dealt with particularly well in the past.

His stomach tightened uncomfortably again and he tried to breathe. That last thing he needed was to puke in the middle of class.

Surely it was some kind of mind over matter, thing. He didn't want to be a total fuck up, he wanted to be there for Rory and to be a real father. Sort of like, he thought therefore he was, kind of thing. It was at least worth a shot, anyway.

The bell rang and for the first time that day, he actually had the presence of mind to notice and gather his books in totally normal fashion. It was a great improvement over his last class.

* * *

Rory let everyone else leave as she gathered her books until it was just her...and Tristan.

"So..." Tristan smiled, "What's next?"

"Journalism for me, what about you?"

"Damn. I have gym."

Rory wrinkled her nose, "That's an elective for juniors. Why would you _elect _to take that?"

"Easy A?" Tristan smiled.

"Ick, maybe for you."

"So when will I see you again?" he made the question sound supiciously like a date, and knowing him, he very well might consider it one.

"Lunch?"

"Can't wait."

"Me neither, I'm starving," she agreed as they headed toward the door.

Tristan laughed, "Are you really super hungry all the time or is that a pregnancy myth?"

"Definitely not a myth. It's amazing what I can fit in my mouth these days... Oh God," she winced, her eyes flying to his face.

"Now _that _is something I definitely have to see for myself," he smirked.

Rory blushed. "Shut up," she muttered.

"You're killing me, Gilmore."

"Okayyy, Gym's that way, see you at lunch!" she escaped as quickly as possible, trying her very best not to waddle.

* * *

Tristan was in excellent shape since military class, so gym class was even more of a breeze than in previous years. It was mostly guys. Majority of girls didn't enjoy getting sweaty during the day with 3 minutes to shower it off. Apparently.

Now at night, Tristan had seen much of the Chilton female population get fairly sweaty, but that wasn't an appropriate line of thought now that he was...well, still unattached, actually, but it still seemed wrong.

He got a little tired of the military school questions by the end of the hour. No, it wasn't totally like prison. Yes, it did suck. Yes, he really did get kicked out. No, he wasn't raped by any teachers and what the fuck?

The more he talked, the more his legend grew, which it only strengthened his determination to never tell _anyone_ he drove a Hyundai.

* * *

Rory lowered herself into her seat in journalism next to Paris, who looked at her suspiciously.

"You're not going to avoid me?"

"Is there a reason I should?"

"Given the awkward incident in the bathroom, it wouldn't be unheard of," Paris twirled her pen as she dug out her comprehensive notes from the day before.

"Well, Paris, I like to think our friendship is above that."

Paris snorted.

"I was being serious. Do you...want to talk about it?" Rory lowered her voice at the end, eyeing the rest of her classmates warily as the teacher walked up to the front of the room.

"Hardly the time, Gilmore," she motioned to the teacher starting up the lecture.

There was a knock on the door.

"Fine," Paris glared at Rory as though she'd magically drawn the teacher away to allow them to talk. "Are you going to marry him?" she hissed.

"WHAT?" Rory practically shrieked and sunk deep into her chair when others noticed.

"You know, rings, gown, garter? ...Cake?"

"Paris, I can't get married at sixteen, that's crazy!"

Paris rolled her eyes, "No crazier than getting knocked up."

"Well, it's not like I meant to-"

"Rory Gilmore!" The teacher was back at the front of the room holding a hall pass, "You're wanted in the office."

* * *

It wasn't difficult to find Rory's lunch table. The sound of Paris bitching someone out could be heard pretty much anywhere in the school. In this case it was some poor freshman to made the unfortunate mistake of _almost _running into her.

Tristan was pretty sure the poor kid would never take a step again without looking around for her. "Making the children cry, again, Gellar?" He slid into a seat next to Rory, across from Louise.

"Have you ever tried getting sloppy joe fast food mix out of your shirt, DuGrey? No? Good, shut up, then."

"Sure," Tristan shrugged, "How are the rest of you ladies?"

Louise smiled and Tristan was fairly sure it was her foot that was rubbing up against his. "I'm great. So how was military school? Build up your stamina?"

Rory snorted next to him.

"Didn't teach me anything I didn't already know."

"Are we really going to have to suffer through this?" Paris glared at them, "Some of us are eating."

"Right. Well, ladies, how was everyone's day?"

"Just great, Tristan, thanks for asking," Madeline smiled as she sat down at the table with them.

"And how has Chilton survived in my absence?"

"Lame drama," Louise shrugged, "Are you coming back to create your usual stir? We could all really use some new gossip."

Tristan wondered if news of the parentage of Rory's child would be considered new or old gossip. It would be a huge pain, either way. "Not me, I'm all about flying under the radar."

Paris choked.

"Too bad," Madeline sighed, "They're being terrible to Rory."

Tristan's stomach crunched. "They're what?"

Louise nudged Madeline to shut up and she shrunk in her seat.

"Who's being terrible to you, Rory?" he turned to her.

"No one in particular," she avoided his gaze.

"Tristan, honestly," Paris glared at him, "She's pregnant in high school, did you honestly expect people to just be polite about the whole thing?"

She wasn't saying anything he didn't know, and yet it seemed so different with Rory. How could anyone not see her and know that she was different? Her innocence transcended something as trivial as having sex and the fact that these hideously spoiled socialites were rubbing something like this in her face was repulsive to him. It was beyond hypocritical.

After awhile, Tristan realized that they expected him to say something. "Well, this is why I sit at the table with the enlightened."

Everyone seemed to buy it except Paris, who wasn't buying into his bull shit. Which she shouldn't, of course.

"So, Rory," Paris looked away from Tristan, "Care to share why you had to go to the office last period?"

"Ohh, in trouble again, Gilmore?" Louise laughed. "Didn't return a library book on time?"

* * *

Rory didn't particularly want to get into it, so she kept her explanation blank, "It was nothing, my mom called the office because I turned off my cell."

"Everything okay?" Tristan inquired.

"Yeah, she's just picking up an all overtime shift tonight for time and a half."

They all just stared back at her blankly.

"Huh?" Madeline was, as usual, the only one of the rich socialites willing to admit she had no idea what Rory was talking about.

"She's just working an extra eight hours after these eight, so they are paying her for those hours plus another fifty percent."

"Ohh..." The lights seemed to click on for all of them and Rory assumed they'd all heard some mention of the concept on TV or from their limo driver.

"So she just called to brag she was raking in more dough?" Louise asked.

"No, she just wanted me to find somewhere to stay tonight, she doesn't like it when I'm home alone now, with...you know, the conditions being as they are."

"Well, Mary, you can stay with me," Tristan jumped right in with invitation and Rory smacked him playfully. It was nice to have someone treat her like nothing had changed, to have the sexual undertones be flirtatious intead of mocking.

"I told her I would just stay at my grandparents. It's the easiest, since it's a school night."

"Huh," Louise nodded, "I think the not returning the library book would've been a better story. Tell it that way next time."

"Ohhh, yeah," Madeline agreed with her friend.

Paris was already going through her notes for the next class and had stopped paying attention to the conversation all together.

* * *

When the bell rang for the next class, Tristan held Rory back for a second.

"Tristan, I'll be late..."

"We should really talk, Rory, don't you think?"

"Well, yeah, of course, but- now?"

"When is your grandma picking you up?" he asked.

"She's not, I said I'd catch a ride with Paris."

"Screw that, I'll take you, we can talk in the car."

"Really?" she was insultingly incredulous he was offering her a ride. Like he'd never been nice to her before or something.

"C'mon, Mary, I've always wanted you in my back seat."

She rolled her eyes and started to head for class, but he pulled her back.

"Please come with me?"

"Fine," she finally agreed and Tristan floated dreamily to his next class.

It wasn't until he actually sat down at his desk that he came to the horrifying realization of what this meant: She would have to see his car.

He sank mournfully into his seat. And here he was, thinking how well things were going.

* * *

That last bell finally rang and Rory dragged herself heavily outside, so looking forward to just sinking into her bed for a power nap before she broke into her homework.

She leaned against the wall to wait for Tristan and watched as practically every Chilton student left before he finally emerged.

"Tristan, hey, where's your car?" she walked up to him.

"Rory!" he sounded weird, like he'd been caught looking up porn on the school computer.

"Umm...yeah, are you okay?"

"Totally fine. I see you still want a ride."

Rory frowned, "Well, yeah, seeing as you practically begged to take me, I thought it was only fair..."

"Right," he nodded, "That I did. Well...okay. Can I carry your books for you?"

"Umm...sure," she let him pick up her bag and was jealous of how effortless it was for him. "Are you parked very far?"

"Well...yeah, I got here kinda late."

"Okay."

Tristan said nothing as they walked, but seemed overly agitated about _something _and it was starting to freak her out.

"Wasn't the purpose of this to like...talk or something?" she tried to start conversation tentatively.

"Oh!" he seemed to suddenly remember she was there, "Yeah, we should. So. How's stuff for you?"

"Clearly better than you...did you take speed or something?"

"No, I just... There's something that you don't know and you're going to find out and I really, really don't want you to."

"I already know about the STD," Rory shrugged.

"The WHAT?" he looked truly petrified for a second.

"Tristan, relax, what is it?"

They had gone far beyond the parking lot at this point and Tristan came to a stop before a car Rory had never seen before.

"_This _is it," he gestured at the car and she looked from it, to him and back blankly.

"It's...a car..."

"No, it's _my _car, Rory. When I got kicked, my dad sold my porsche and gave me _this _instead."

Tristan seemed so absolutely dead serious and _mournful _about the whole thing that Rory tried her absolute damnedest not to laugh.

But she failed miserably.

* * *

It seemed like hours before Rory was in a condition to speak again. In reality, it was probably about five minutes, but that is a long time for a seventeen year old boy to endure someone laughing at them. Generally speaking, Tristan was the type to join in any laughter directed at him because he figured, no one could laugh _at _him if he was already laughing _with _them.

But this was simply too close to home.

He put her books in the car and waited calmly for her to start breathing again, before piling her into the front seat and driving quickly out of the school area and hoping no one was around to see what he'd been reduced to.

"This can't be good for the baby," Rory wiped tears from her eyes.

"Should I take you to a doctor?" Tristan shot her an alarmed glance.

"No, I'm fine, I just...wow. Thank you. That was absolutely hilarious."

"Glad you liked it," he muttered.

"Okay, snap out of it, you know where my grandparents live, right?"

"Yeah, I was there for your party."

"Ugh, don't remind me," Rory groaned. "Let's change the subject, shall we? What did you want to talk about?"

"Logistics. How is this going to work?"

"Well... After nine months and a lot of drugs, there will be a baby that will magically appear in my arms...and I won't have you disabusing me of these notions."

Tristan smiled. "No, I mean, telling our families and everything."

"Oh, well, I already told my family, so I guess, you can tell yours however you want. If you want me to be there..."

"No," Tristan jumped in quickly, "I want you to stay somewhere safe."

"That bad?"

"This may, in fact, be the last time you'll see me alive."

"Any last requests?"

Tristan raised his eyebrows suggestively and Rory rolled her eyes.

"Never mind."

* * *

"Damn, it was just getting interesting," Tristan loved the look in her eyes when he teased her about sex. He still couldn't accept that it had actually already happened. "Hey, Mary? Umm, how involved do you want me to be with this...whole thing?"

"How involved do you want to be?" she asked, "And don't you think that nickname is a little inappropriate at this point?"

"I want to be as involved as possible, as long as you're okay with it. And no, I think it still fits you perfectly."

She seemed pleased with that answer. "This is the house coming up."

Tristan pulled into the driveway as she lugged her books to the front seat to get out. "Do you need me to get those?"

"I think I can make it the 15 feet to the door, but thanks for the offer. And the ride. Sure do love your car," she giggled.

"Careful," he glared at her.

Rory slipped out of the car, but leaned her head back in. "I'm sure we can work all this out as we go, Tristan...but I'm glad to have someone else in this with me."

His heart pounded as she gave him a brilliant smile, slammed the door and strolled into her grandparent's massive house.

This was a good thing, he told himself as he drove toward the impending disaster that awaited him at his house. Maybe his father would recognize that this was the perfect opportunity for Tristan to learn some of the responsibility he'd been bellowing about lately.

Yes, it was unlikely, but it was an angle he was willing to pursue.

As he walked through the door, he looked at the clock and wondered what he could possibly do for the two hours until his father came home to beat the shit out of him.

He basically had zero forms of entertainment since his father cleared out his room, so he sank into his bed to sleep and started to go over in his mind every unexpected thing that happened with Rory that day.

Her smile, how she had said they were in it together, which he assumed would soon mean they would _be _together. They were going to have a baby. Together. A whole extra person that was pretty much guaranteed to be headed for cover of People magazine.

It was the whole 'raising' bit that made Tristan nervous. That, and the 'providing for' bit which would be difficult if his father cut him off from his trust fund as he feared he might.

"Tristan! Dinner!" his father's voice came down the hall and Tristan gaped at his alarm clock.

"Coming!" his voice cracked and he told himself to breathe. This was it.

To Be Continued...


	5. Chapter 5

Acceptance, Chapter Four

It was just Tristan and his father at dinner that night, making it the perfect time to broach the knocked-a-girl-up-don't-kill-me speech.

Which was why he was staring at his fork numbly.

"Out with it."

Tristan looked at his father sharply. What did he know?

"You haven't eaten, what's on your mind?"

Not one for beating around the bush, his father.

"Okay," Tristan took a deep breath, "I am just going to preface this talk by saying that this may not be your favorite discussion you've ever had with me, but I hope we can both act like adults-"

"Oh God, what did you do now? It's your FIRST day back!"

It wasn't getting off to a good start and he hadn't even said anything yet.

"Nothing! I didn't do anything, well, today. I just found out about something from before, actually. So, really, it doesn't violate your terms..."

John DuGrey pinned Tristan to his chair with his eyes. "What. Did. You. Do?"

"Well...it seems that in a few months, I'll be a father."

Silence. Tristan braced himself.

"I'll call the lawyer in the morning," his father shrugged, "How was school?"

Tristan blinked, "That's it?"

"Did you want me to ground you? Take your car?"

"PLEASE!" Tristan encouraged and his father looked ridiculously pleased with himself. At least someone was happy about that monstrosity.

"You'll be keeping the car until you earn another one – either by an improvement in your behavior or the traditional method – getting a job."

Seeing as Tristan didn't have the job experience to get himself a banana seat bike, he couldn't help wondering what kind of behavior his dad was looking for. Further impregnation of the student body was probably out of the question. "So how will it work when the baby comes?"

"Why would there be any changes?" His father watched him carefully and Tristan felt like he'd missed something.

"Well... we might need earplugs, for one..." he wasn't an expert on parenting, but he did know a few of the basics.

"Tristan, I'm sure we can settle all these details in the morning and none of our lives will have to change."

His stomach turned and acid chewed through him as Tristan slowly began to realize his father's intentions. "You want me to walk away."

"You feel you're ready to be a father? That you can support a child where you are right now?"

"Maybe not, but-"

"Then this is the best decision."

"It's... wrong."

"No. What's wrong is throwing your life away on a mistake that can easily be corrected."

"Rory won't just agree to have an abortion, Dad," Tristan felt confident in his statement. "She's too far along, anyway."

"Don't worry, Tristan, I'm sure something can be arranged."

"I'm not _worried, _I don't want her to get an abortion either!"

"Interesting. You say her name is Rory? Where have I heard that name before?"

Tristan didn't answer, the last thing he needed was his father doing something horrifying – like calling her parents.

"Oh, right! Lorelai's daughter," John laughed, "Now isn't that ironic."

Shocked, Tristan just stared at his father.

"Apparently, I'm the only one that sees the humor," John shrugged. "But if the daughter is anything like the mother, it may not even be yours. Did you get a paternity test?"

"She offered, I declined. Rory Gilmore's not a liar. And I'd really prefer you direct your insults to me instead."

"Look who's suddenly noble. Well, this will be an interesting experiment, then. If you want to play father, you go right ahead. And if it gets to be too much for you, you're always welcome to come home."

"You're kicking me out?" Tristan started to get scared.

"Absolutely not – as long as you're willing to act in your own best interest, and the interest of this family, you're welcome to live here, to go to the excellent school we're paying for you to attend and take part in a future that very few people in this world are lucky enough to get. If you _choose _to leave and force yourself into life as a parent before your time, then that is up to you."

His initial reaction was to storm out. But the idea of actually having _nothing _kept Tristan glued to his seat.

"Do I have to decide right this second?" he asked hesitantly.

John seemed satisfied with that reaction, which made Tristan want to hurl his plate at him. "Not at all. Try the lamb."

Reluctantly, Tristan picked up his fork.

XXX

Rory picked at the food on her plate as her grandparents chattered back and forth about old memories of Yale. It seemed unlikely that Rory would ever attend _any _such esteemed university, so she tuned out basically the whole discussion.

She wondered how Tristan was faring with his father, should she have gone with him? He seemed like such a little boy at some moments that she wanted to protect him from whatever they said.

Rory jumped as the cell phone clipped to her jeans started vibrating. It wasn't a number she recognized and she let it go to voice mail.

"So, Rory, have you thought about names yet?" Her grandmother tried to bring her back into the conversation.

"For the baby?"

"Well, of course, for the baby, did you want to name the roast duck?"

If her mother were here, she and Rory would have taken the opportunity to create the perfect name for the entree, but alas, Lorelai was not anywhere in the vicinity and Rory didn't have the energy to do it alone.

"I haven't really thought of it, well, seriously, I mean. It seemed like a good thing to do when I'm forced on bed rest with my feet up and can't seem to do anything else."

"Oh, you're too healthy for bed rest," Richard argued, "And not likely to slow down on your homework even so, I'll wager."

"No, Grampa, that's my top priority."

"And good to hear it," he nodded, apparently all was right in the world if homework could be finished and books could be read. "Your grandmother and I were giving your situation some thought and while I know your mother was unwilling to accept any help from us, we were hoping that you wouldn't feel the same way. The difference between this being hard and being practically impossible is in how much help you're willing to accept. I hope you'll remember that, Rory."

"I understand, Grandpa," Rory nodded, "But you're already helping me out so much just by paying for Chilton."

"Just think of this as padding our investment, then," Emily smiled, "We'll want you to be able to use your education, won't we?"

"Yeah," Rory looked at her duck, trapped into this dinner just like she was, "I definitely understand."

"Excellent," Richard smiled, "I know you'll be thinking about this, then. How do you like the duck, Rory?"

"I think the chef's a keeper," Rory affirmed.

XXX

Rory's voice mail clicked on for the third time. Damn. Apparently she hadn't gotten the 'It's Tristan, pick up next time' text message. Well, either that or she was ignoring him.

He liked to assume that wasn't the case.

Particularly since he was currently staring up into what he hoped was her window and debating his ability to climb the tree next to it. It couldn't be _that _different from a rope, could it?

XXX

Finally in the peace of her horribly decorated room at her grandparents house, Rory settled in with a book from her grandpa's collection. It was so nice to just be at peace with dead writers instead of the annoyance of living relatives.

What was she going to do? What was her plan?

She didn't want to make a new plan. She'd had a plan and it had gotten so completely screwed up she doubted she would be able to complete half of it.

There was a knock on her door, interrupting her grand plans of silence and classic literature. "Rory, are you in there?" her grandmother called.

"Sure am," Rory opened up the door and put on a smile.

"Did you want anything particular for breakfast? I was just about to give the maid instructions."

"I'm sure whatever you were planning will be excellent."

Emily seemed to take this as a compliment, "Well, then, I'm sure we'll see you in the morning, Rory."

"That you will, Grandma."

"Emily," Richard joined them out in the hallway, "I think a bird just hit our window!"

"Well, that's just lovely, Richard, I'll have the gardener remove the corpse from the yard in the morning. How grisly. You shouldn't bother Rory with these images before bed."

"He may have survived, Grandma, it just looked so nice in here, he wanted to be friends."

Emily gave her the look at that point, the "You're so much like your mother I could scream" one.

Rory found it somewhat amusing.

"Good night, Rory. We'll see you in the morning."

"If you need anything, we're just next door."

She wasn't sure if it was an assurance or a warning. Probably both.

Poor little bird, death by invisible shield. Rory looked out the window where it probably... was there someone down there?

Her heart sped and she jumped as her phone vibrated against her and she lifted it up to her ear.

"Hello?"

"I can see you up there," a male voice told her.

Rory stepped back from the window immediately, ready to make a run for it.

"Get out of here, you sick pervert, I'm calling the police!"

"C'mon Mary, don't you think that's a little extreme? I just wanted to tell you how things went with my dad."

"Tristan?" Rory sighed, "You scared the hell out of me!"

"Well if you'd check your voice mail...ever, you'd know I was coming!"

"You couldn't wait until I actually answered the phone to just come on over?"

"I didn't want my dad to hear me on the phone. Hey, can we talk about this inside? I'm freezing."

"How long have you been out there, idiot?" Rory glared down at him.

"Well...I walked over, I didn't want my dad to hear the car."

"I'm really hoping your mental problems aren't genetic."

"C'mon Rory, how do I get in?"

"I'll call you back," she hung up on him and hit speed dial.

XXX

"Independence Inn," Michel picked up the phone, "No, this is a place of business, not her personal cell phone."

Lorelai snatched the phone out of his hand, "Rory?"

"Hey mom, how's work?"

"Not too bad, my parents are being all right...right? My mom's behaving herself?" Lorelai asked quickly, ready to kill her mother.

"Yeah, fine. Listen...how did you sneak dad in the house back, you know."

"Back when you were conceived?"

"Mom!"

"Rory, hon, who do you want to sneak into mom's house? Lane? Dean? No, that doesn't make sense. Oh! Kirk! Right?"

"Yes, it's Kirk. I admit it," Rory deadpanned.

"Is it one of your Chilton friends?"

"Sort of, they're out in the cold and really want to talk, I just don't want to freak out Grandma by bringing them in the front door."

"So it's a boy! Your pronouns deceive you! Who, who? Tell mommy who it is, Rory."

"God. Fine. It's Tristan."

"Wait, Tristan, like, _the _Tristan?" Lorelai was practically bouncing with the need to go to her mother's and find out exactly what was going on.

"Mom, how many Tristans could I possibly know?"

"Why would you not begin the conversation with why he's back, if you told him and what he said? Where are your manners, young lady?"

"Well, he got kicked out of military school, I did tell him and he's strangely accepting of the whole situation."

"Odd. Is he on drugs?" Lorelai tried to picture what 'strangely accepting' meant, exactly.

"I wouldn't be surprised."

"And you want me to tell you how to break him into my mother's house?"

"...yes?"

"Sure, you should get a pen, though, these directions are very specific and involved. Not joking. And I expect a call the second he leaves."

"Deal."

XXX

Tristan fell to the floor in front of Rory. "Damn, I thought military school was challenging."

"No pain, no gain," Rory shrugged. "And hush, my grandparents are in the next room."

"Great," he muttered, "That's comforting."

"So what's the deal with your dad? You told him?"

"Yeah. He's not exactly supportive."

Rory shrugged, "Not a huge surprise."

"No," he shook his head and debated how much to tell her. He knew what he wanted to do. Tell his dad to go fuck himself. But could he really survive that? He was seventeen. His sole possession was an ancient Hyundai that would really be better off in a garbage heap.

"So...did you really make that whole trip to let me know your dad wasn't all together pleased with your involvement in teenage pregnancy?"

"No, there's more... He basically gave me a choice between supporting you and the baby and remaining a part of the family."

Rory's mouth dropped, "He'd cut you off completely? His own son?"

"He's a fan of the tough love, my father."

"Tristan, that's not love..."

He didn't need her to point that out. But she was so horrified by the concept that _he _almost felt the need to comfort _her._

"I'm so sorry," Rory shook her head and he could see moisture welling in her big blue eyes.

"Hey, no, Rory, it's okay," he took her hand and squeezed tightly, "I'm used to it. This is the man who sent me to military school and traded in my Porsche."

Rory chuckled and Tristan regretted mentioning the car. She'd never truly sympathize with him about that one.

"Tristan, I made the decision to keep this baby a long time ago. You deserve to make that decision too. My father wasn't ready to be a full time dad and if you're not either, I understand that. Especially without your family's support. I know I couldn't do this without my mom."

"Yes, you could," Tristan disagreed, "If she did it, I'm sure you could too."

"I hope I never find out," Rory shrugged.

"Rory, I don't want to abandon you, I want to be part of the child's life."

"But you also don't want to give up the lifestyle you're used to."

"Well, who would?" Tristan shrugged. His biggest fear was that he couldn't take it and ran back to his father.

"Take a couple days, Tristan. Decide what you want," Rory squeezed his hand. "Be positive."

"If that's what you want," he shrugged.

"I just don't want you to have any regrets."

"Too late," he sighed, "Have you seen my car?"

"Stop making me laugh, I'll wake up my grandparents!" she hissed.

"Speaking of which...how do I get out of here? Or do I get to spend the night?" he asked suggestively.

"Ummm...no. Back the way you came."

"You really hate me that much?" Tristan sighed, "Fine. But if I fall, you're gonna feel really bad."

"So don't fall!"

This was, of course, much easier said then done.

TBC.


	6. Chapter 6

Acceptance, Chapter Five

by scarlet (superscar)

"Independence Inn, this is Lorelai, how may I help you?"

"Hello, Lorelai, this is your mother," Emily's voice came over the line, "I'm at the hospital with your daughter and the young man she had climbing out of her room."

"Oh my God, is he all right?" Lorelai started looking around for her keys.

"He's getting X-rays, but he'll live. It's interesting that he knew how to get in, in the first place, don't you think?"

It was an obvious trap, one Lorelai felt she was way too wiley to fall into, "Boys will be boys."

"You're not at all surprised at this turn of events."

"No, I am. It's the shock. Totally overwhelming, not sure what to say."

"You _might_ tell me why you'd help a young man break into my house to see your daughter so late in the evening."

"Oh, mom, you and your crazy questions. Don't worry, I'll be right there. Bye!"

It was a long way to Hartford, she could contemplate a better answer in the car.

XXX

The ride to the hospital had been so painful that Tristan hadn't even considered the true awkwardness of the situation. Now that the pain meds were kicking in, though, he couldn't be more aware of the fact that he was sitting around waiting for his X-rays with the grandparents of the girl he knocked up, who happened to own the window he'd fallen out of.

Given the looks they were sending him, it wouldn't take them too long to put it all together. His total inability to run away was icing on the shit cake.

Rory looked extremely stressed about the whole situation and Tristan couldn't help wondering if maybe she shouldn't be there.

"I really appreciate you guys bringing me in here, but I'm sure Rory needs her rest and... everything."

"Young man, you were injured on our property," Richard Gilmore eyed him, "It wouldn't be appropriate for us to leave. But he is correct, Rory, I could call a cab and you could get some rest, perhaps?"

Tristan blanched.

"No, no, I want to stay and make sure Tristan's all right," Rory told them quickly, much to his relief. "I'm sure it won't take too much longer anyway."

"Well, I've just called his father, I'm sure that once his family gets here, there will be no need for our presence anymore and Rory can get some sleep," Emily smiled at her granddaughter and then at him as though she had some inkling of the pain that would befall him because of this situation. Sadistic bitch.

"Well, look at that, I'm feeling much better," he tried to get up, only to crumple again as pain shot straight to his brain. Tristan had never dealt particularly well with anything more than a blood test, but the last thing he could do in front Rory's grandparents was _cry._ Especially after all the Vicodin he'd eagerly taken from the nurse. Fuck, wasn't he supposed to be totally numb by now? This was the worst hospital ever.

He wanted everyone to leave so he could tear up without shame, but it didn't seem likely to happen.

It may have been some kind of karmic backlash for knocking up the most innocent girl to ever grace the halls of Chilton. But that was just a theory – one he didn't want to dwell on.

XXX

Rory didn't want to think about the fact that her grandparents hadn't made any inquiries about _why_ Tristan DuGrey had fallen out of her window. Despite this, she felt pretty sure that her grandmother would bring it up again, since Rory herself had not jumped in to explain.

It wasn't that hard a sentence, "Tristan's the father," was really all that needed to be said, but it was stuck in her throat for the moment and she wanted to discuss strategy with her mom before she forced it out.

In a vague way, she supposed she'd known there would be a time when she'd have to explain to her grandparents that her ex-boyfriend Dean wasn't the father as they'd suspected, but at the time, it seemed like information best left out of the 'I've ruined my life just like my mother' speech.

God, if they'd had any idea it was a drunken one night stand...

Rory felt nauseas.

XXX

Lorelai yawned as she approached the door of the hospital. She needed more coffee if she was going to have to deal with her mother _and_ try not to kill the kid that knocked up her daughter – had to stay on her toes.

She reached for the door, but someone grabbed it for her.

"Allow me," the man pulled it open for her.

"Oh, thanks," she smiled, "And they say chivalry's dead."

"Lorelai Gilmore, right?"

"Umm... yeah, and you are?"

"John DuGrey, Tristan's father," he told her. "I believe we met at your parents Christmas party once."

"Oh." _Awkward._

"Apparently he fell off your daughter's windowsill?"

"I heard it was _out of_ if that makes it better?"

From his reaction, it didn't seem to improve matters and Lorelai wasn't really sure what would.

"Tristan told me the situation, Ms. Gilmore."

"Oh...boy, and here I thought this meeting might be awkward."

"You're right, this is the wrong time. I'll just go find my son and I'll contact you later, hopefully we can find a pleasant end to this situation."

Lorelai laughed, incredulous, "A pleasant...end? There is no end for this 'situation' - _certainly_ not a pleasant one."

"You're right, pleasant wasn't the right word, but surely we can arrive at a solution that would be the best for _all_ concerned?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lorelai wanted to rip his head off, "That keeping a baby is okay for _some _people, such as myself and my daughter but apparently your son is above the responsibility? _He_ had a future? Your _son_ was just kicked out of military school, _John_. My _daughter _was headed for Harvard before she encountered your _son _and his friend Jack Daniels."

"My son is irresponsible. He always has been, I hardly think you want his trial run to be at the expense of your first grandchild."

They both winced at _grandchild._

"Your son isn't my problem and neither are you, but if either of you do anything to stress out my daughter right now, you _will_ be," she promised.

"Well, then, I believe I have to look into my son's condition. Excuse me."

Lorelai didn't let him leave without her – she didn't want him in the same room with Rory without her.

XXX

"Mom!" Rory sounded relieved as she rose to hug her mother and Tristan wished he felt half as glad to see his father there with her.

"Tristan, it's good to see you've survived well enough," John DuGrey looked around, "What doctor should I speak with?"

"It's Dr. Edwin Ramsay, an old friend of mine from Yale," Rory's grandfather broke into the conversation. A huge relief, since Tristan hadn't caught the doctor's name at all.

"Well, I certainly appreciate you bringing him to the best medical care available at this hour, though I apologize for the inconvenience."

Tristan thought perhaps his option to stay at home was probably diminishing, since his father would kill him the second he entered his proximity.

"They'll be back any moment now with the ex-rays," Emily informed John, "But you understand if we need to take our granddaughter home to get some rest."

"Actually, mom," Lorelai jumped in, "I can take her home to our house now that I'm here."

"Nonsense, Lorelai, that would just allow her less sleep leaving and coming back for school tomorrow morning."

"She'll be fine. Let's go, Rory."

Rory tried to catch his eye as she stood up, but he looked away. If she wanted some kind of message that he wanted her to stay and protect him, he really couldn't give it to her without looking like a total pussy.

Hopefully, she'd insist on staying with him anyway.

"Rory-" he didn't know what he was going to say, but there should be _something_ after all this drama…

"Tristan, let her go," his father glared at him, "A girl in her condition needs rest."

It wasn't incorrect, but Rory winced, eyeing her grandparents in alarm. Tristan supposed it was too much to ask that somehow two Yale alums wouldn't pick up on his father's seemingly psychic ability to know the medical condition of a girl facing away from him.

Emily's lips thinned and she turned to her daughter, "Could I see you a moment, Lorelai?"

"Sure," Lorelai handed Rory the keys, "Go wait in the car for a moment, okay, honey?"

"Okay, umm… goodbye everyone. I'll see you tomorrow, Tristan."

As she turned away, John muttered, "Wouldn't count on that," just loud enough for Tristan's ears alone.

Marvelous.

XXX

"_That _boy is the father? What happened to that Dean fellow? Or isn't she sure who the father is? What have you done, here, Lorelai?" Emily glared at her daughter.

"All of this is Rory's business, why don't you ask her?" Lorelai hoped this would go quickly, she still had to drive back home.

"You'd like that, of course, you want me to be the bad guy."

"What I actually _want_ is to rip my hair out, but I don't think it would help."

"Honestly, Lorelai, don't you even care that your daughter, innocent though she may seem, is apparently not as _picky_ as one might like? Look what she's become!"

"My daughter made a mistake. She has chosen to accept the consequences of that mistake and raise a child, whom we will welcome into our home. Who the father is or isn't doesn't matter to me as long as he accepts his responsibilities."

"You want them to get married, then? Are those the responsibilities you want him to accept? I'd certainly find that hard to believe."

"Hardly, but a father willing to be there for his child isn't too much to ask for."

"Interesting how you never thought to demand it from the father of your own child," Emily snitted.

"Neither Rory or I wish to force someone to be a father. He either wants to or he doesn't. Christopher wasn't ready, we'll see if Tristan is."

"So you admit it is Tristan!"

Lorelai rolled her eyes, "Good night, mother."

She walked out the door to find Rory holding out a cup of coffee.

"Rory!" Emily looked surprised and a little concerned, "What are you doing out here, I thought you were in the car."

"Just…grabbed mom some coffee for the trip back."

Emily looked suspicious, but hugged her granddaughter goodbye.

As Lorelai pulled the Jeep out on the road and took her first sip of coffee. "You got this from the room across the hall from us, right?"

"No," Rory shook her head too quickly.

"Then you heard everything."

"Grandma's…voice carries."

Lorelai sighed, "That's what I thought."

"So she hasn't been as accepting as I thought."

"She's frustrated with the situation, she doesn't want to take her feelings out on you when you're in this condition."

"But it's okay to take them out on you?" Rory shook her head, "That's not fair. It was my mistake, if she's going to yell at someone about it, it should be me!"

"Rory, it's okay. I'd rather have her give it to someone who can take the abuse. I'm used to it by now, you know?"

XXX

It wasn't fair. None of it. Rory wanted to scream and throw something, but that would only make it worse for her mom, the woman who gave up everything for her. Who was still sacrificing her own maternal relationship to make things better for Rory.

"I love you, mom. I hope I'm half as good at this as you are."

"Put 'em on the pill at 13 or so, that's what I'm trying next time. Say it's vitamins or something."

Rory smiled. "Worth a try."

XXX

The doctor came back before Emily returned, leaving Tristan with Richard as John discussed the insurance and injury with the medical staff.

Tristan tried to concentrate on the Redbook in front of him, though the "Six New Hairstyles to Drive him Wild" weren't really working their mojo.

"Do you respect my granddaughter?"

Tristan sighed, there was no escape now. "I do, sir. Very much."

"I assume that you are the father of her child, but do correct me if I'm wrong."

"No," Tristan decided to man up, "you're not wrong."

"And do you intend to meet your obligations in this matter?"

Did he? He wanted to. "Of course, sir."

"My granddaughter deserves only the best."

"Couldn't agree more," Tristan nodded, actually hoping, for the first time, that his father would come back and yell at him.

"Should you be willing to make an honest woman of her, as your family, we would feel obligated to make sure you were enjoying a lifestyle to which you may have become accustomed," Richard gave him a pointed look as he said this and Tristan was blown away.

Was this man really _bribing _him to marry Mary?

"Do we understand each other?"

"I… I think so, Sir."

"Marvelous," Richard smiled and handed him a business card, "My door is always open should you like to discuss it further. Now, if you'll excuse me, I will go and find my wife. It's late, you know."

"Well…thank you. For bringing me to the hospital."

"Nonsense," Richard picked up his coat, "You're practically part of the family."

Dazed, Tristan leaned his head in his hands. This created… an interesting option.

To Be Continued


	7. Chapter 7

Acceptance, Chapter Six

By scarlet (superscar)

The telephones poles flew by as Tristan's father took out his frustration on the road.

"Why do you make this harder for everyone?"

Tristan ignored him.

"You think this is going to put you on her family's good side? You're embarrassing all of us!"

"In front of who, the ER staff? Who cares?"

It was John's turn to ignore his son. "I'm not going to continue to pay a fortune for you to ruin your life at every stage."

"Right, so you said."

There was a loud screech and Tristan's stomach hurled forward while the rest of his body was held back with the seatbelt.

"Then I won't need to say this again," his father warned. "I've had it. _Anything_ you else you do to disrupt this family, you'll be _living_ in that car. Are we clear?"

Tristan turned back to look out the window again. If all went well, hopefully he'd have a new family to worry about. "Crystal."

XXX

"I wonder how long it will be before Emily starts planning your wedding," Lorelai broke the silence after five minutes. A Gilmore record.

"God." Rory buried her face in her hands. "This is such a nightmare."

"Only if you hate doves, cause if I know my mom? There'll be doves a plenty."

"I can't get _married_, that's crazy! They have to know that's crazy."

Lorelai laughed. "I doubt they'll accept that premise, but good luck trying to convince them. They still want me to marry Christopher."

"Well, that, I'd be fine with."

"Oh, I see. Now you desert me. When your child starts bugging you to marry Tristan, just remember this moment, cause you'll get no help from me!"

"Mommy, help." Rory lay her head on Lorelai's shoulder. "I don't want to marry Tristan!"

"Ohhh, you fight dirty."

XXX

Despite the slow process of pregnancy, the awareness that she could no longer hide her status with massive clothing and strategically located potted plants hit Rory suddenly.

"Mom!"

"What, what…" Lorelai came through Rory's bedroom door to find Rory at the mirror. "Oh, yeah, not a good shirt for you anymore." She went immediately to the closet.

"There aren't any more!"

"Aren't any more what?"

"Shirts! THIS is the loosest shirt I own!" Any and all putting off was finished. Miss Patty would tell anyone who didn't find out from Babette, so Luke would know. Dean would know. The tunnels were closing in around her. "Mom, what do I-"

Lorelai was already on the phone and held a hand for silence, "Yes, hi, this is Lorelai Gilmore, Rory's mom? She's not feeling well and I'm keeping her home today. Thank you, I'll let her know." She hung up. "Connie in the office hopes you'll feel better."

"But I'm not sick!"

"You're out of clothes, that's even worse. Chop chop, we're power shopping."

XXX

"What do you mean, sick?" Tristan demanded as he cornered Paris at her locker.

She was in no mood to deal with his tantrum. "I mean her mom called her out. It happens. Well, not to me."

Tristan pulled out a cell phone that definitely wasn't allowed in school. "Keep look out."

It was like sixth grade all over again, but Paris kept an eye out as she glanced through her notes for the next period.

"Rory, hey!" Tristan shifted back and forth nervously as he spoke with her. Sap. "It's Tristan. I heard you were sick, are you feeling okay? Did you need me to get you anything?"

"Maybe some breathing room?" Paris suggested.

Tristan plugged his free ear, ignoring her. "Oh. Yeah. That's great." He leaned back against the lockers, relieved. "No problem, have a good time. Oh, hey, Mary, get something tight up top…hello?" He turned to Paris, smiling. "She hung up on me."

"Epic romance." Paris shut her locker.

"Hey, can I borrow your notes for English?"

"Take your own."

"No, for Rory." He tagged after Paris as she stomped down the hallway toward her next class.

Tristan had never been one for catching hints. "If she was brain-dead enough to ask for your notes, she deserves what she gets." Paris tried to escape him.

"She didn't ask for mine, she asked for yours. Make my life easier? Pretty please?"

Paris stopped, calculating. "Why's she out?"

"Ran out of clothes, had to shop."

"Oh." Paris smiled. "Sure, she can have them."

"You're not willing to improve _my_ life, but the clothing thing makes you feel for her?"

"Hardly. But no one skipping school to shop is going to compete with my GPA. Thanks, by the way, for knocking up the competition."

Tristan shrugged. "Glad you found silver lining."

XXX

"I can't decide which is worse."

"They're maternity clothes, Ror, nothing's winning a fashion contest."

"No, I mean with Dean."

Lorelai glanced from the blouse to the shirt. "Can't say I see him in either."

"Mom! Can you be serious? The second Babette gets wind of the waddle, he'll find out. But maybe that's better? They I can just avoid him and someone else can rip his heart out?"

"Your choice." Lorelai held a nursing bra up to her chest and grimaced.

"But you think it's cowardly. I should just call him, tell him in person and give him the opportunity to storm out. Oh, oh! OR, I could send a letter!"

"Rory-"

"I know, you're right. I'll call him."

"Ror?" Lorelai tried to get her attention. "Is that a yes or no on the skirt?"

"Oh." Rory really looked at herself in the mirror for the first time. "I don't know. Does it make me look fat?"

XXX

It was astonishing the shopping bags that could fit into a car if one knew how to pack it. "This is going to take forever to unload," Rory whined.

"Oh, I know," Lorelai suggested as they pulled into the driveway. "We can call Tristan! Load him up like a donkey. Or ass, if you prefer."

Rory smiled. "He's actually been really cool lately. Incredibly so, about the baby. I was shocked."

"Even more reason for him to help out, it'll make him feel useful." Lorelai was getting into the idea.

"Too bad he's in school like every other person my age."

"So we'd be _rescuing _him, is what you're saying."

"Mom, we'll be fine." She grabbed a few bags on the way out of the car, not even stopping to wonder how Lorelai had turned the argument around on her.

"Lorelai, Rory!"

Rory recognized the voice immediately and every muscle in her body tensed. Her eyes met her mothers, filled with helpless sympathy.

Slowly, she turned around, letting the shopping bags fall to the side, not bothering to block her abdomen as it would do no good. This was it.

"Hi, Miss Patty."

Shock spread across the Patty's face as she took in Rory's form, so different than it had been before. "Umm… Hi, Rory!" she forced a wide smile. "Do you have a story for me?"

And so it began.

XXX

Dean's reaction was all Rory could think about on the way to school the next day.

She'd called twice. The second time, Dean's little sister had politely informed her that Dean would get her message and that she didn't have to be "a stalker about it." Considering the amount of time Dean had spent ringing her phone off the hook when they were dating, Rory was tempted to explain this little irony to Clara, but she'd held back and waited by the phone for his call.

Until Lorelai made her to go bed, of course.

They'd planned the whole thing out perfectly. Dean would arrive. Lorelai would usher him into the kitchen, where Rory would already be seated, thereby not automatically blindsiding him with her condition. Hopefully, he would sit down as his height was more than a little intimidating and then she would be able to tell him as gently as possible. The exact wording of this exchange, she was still perfecting.

It was workable, providing she could get a hold of him before he found out from someone else.

Being that it was going on 24 hours of Miss Patty finding out, Rory was playing a dangerous game indeed.

XXX

Tristan paced in front of Paris's locker until she pushed him aside to get into it. "Finally! Is she here today?"

"Why don't you stake out _her_ locker to find out?" Paris suggested.

"Well, let's see. Do _you_ think this an attractive look for me?"

"The obsession or the hair?" she asked.

"I wouldn't say… What's wrong with my hair?" Tristan pushed her out of the way to look into her mirror.

"God, it's fine. She's here, okay? Go pretend to be cool."

"I'll do my best," he promised.

XXX

Rory spun her combination as she ignored Matt, her daily tormentor.

"I guess your sex life has probably really tanked since you started showing, huh, Gilmore?"

"Please," Summer interrupted him. "Getting pregnant is _so _amateur. Probably just couldn't figure out the condom first time out of the gate."

Rory told herself that if she just didn't respond, they'd eventually get bored. It hadn't worked for the past few months, of course, but it had to have gained cliché status for a reason.

Gathering her books, Rory tried to get past them, but Matt blocked her way.

"Oh, sorry, did you want to get through?" he asked.

XXX

Tristan could barely see Rory in the rush of passing time. Strange, considering how big she'd gotten in the last couple weeks, an observation he'd be keeping to himself.

As he got closer, he realized it was Matt and Summer blocking his view and Tristan quickened his limp to get to her.

"Hey Rory, Gennessee." Tristan didn't bother wasting his breath to greet Summer. "I've got those notes for you, Mary. Paris now owns my kidney, so I hope it's worth it."

"You only need one anyway." She smiled at him, ignoring the others. He took her hand and she clung to his fingers like a lifeline.

"Not rejecting him now that you need a step daddy, I see," Matt interjected.

"Don't be a jackass, you know nothing about our relationship," Tristan told him.

"Oh, a relationship?" Summer wouldn't be left out of the conversation, unfortunately. "How domestic."

All their implications made Tristan nauseous. Rory Gilmore made one mistake in her entire life and these evil hypocrites couldn't let it go. He had no idea what to say. Would the fact that he'd been the one to impregnate her help or hurt in their estimation? He wasn't sure, but it wasn't like they could keep it a secret forever…

"It should be," Tristan said finally. "We're having a baby in a couple months."

They had no coherent response, so Tristan walked Rory to class.

"What was that, exactly?" she whispered.

"Possibly a huge mistake," he admitted. "Guess we'll find out."

XXX

The chorus of questions when Lorelai walked into Luke's Diner was overwhelming, so she decided to get her coffee to go.

"So it's true, then?" Luke asked as he poured.

"Not my place to confirm or deny."

"Is that why they broke up? I can have a talk with him, if you want."

"It isn't and I don't." She picked up her cup. "But I appreciate the thought."

"Let me know if you need anything."

"Don't worry, we're working on the list," Lorelai agreed. "And I'm not just saying that."

Luke smiled. "I have no doubt."

XXX

It didn't take long for Louise and Madeline to corner her. Or at least, Rory didn't think it took long. Louise was more than a little hurt to be the 'last to know everything.'

"So, spill, was it really Tristan?" she asked.

"And you're together now?" Madeline followed up before Rory could answer the first question.

"Umm, yes, it was Tristan and we're...uhh... taking it slow."

"You can do that when you're gonna pop out a kid?"

"Well, the most important thing is to raise our child in a stable environment, so our relationship has to come secondary."

"Wow, Tristan agreed to that?" Madeline asked skeptically.

"We've discussed it." Or they would. Eventually. When she got up the nerve to draw attention to the weird issue of their relationship. It made them sound good, is what mattered.

"I'm not sure you guys are on the same page, Rory." Louise pointed to a TV monitor in the corner of the room where the school announcements scrolled across the bottom of the screen.

"What do you-" Rory stopped talking as she started reading. Oh, he was _so_ dead.

XXX

"Tristan, what the hell?"

Tristan found himself yanked into the bathroom he considered the starting point of their whole relationship. When the time was right, he'd let Rory in on the emotional significance as well. But she seemed a little too pissed to appreciate it at the moment.

"I guess you saw the announcements?"

"The whole _school_ saw the announcements!"

Perfect. Tristan flattened to look under the stall doors. The last thing they needed was a witness to this conversation. Coast clear, he jumped back to his feet.

"Tristan, we can't get _married_."

"Of course not," Tristan scoffed, as though the idea had never occurred to him. "That would be crazy."

At least, until they had some kind of steady cash flow.

"Oh…kay. So if you agree with me, why did I just get that lame, uninspired proposal during the afternoon announcements?"

"Time out. Are you mad that I proposed or are you mad it wasn't romantic enough, cause that'd be really good information to have."

"Tristan, god!"

"I go by both."

She punched him.

"Ow!"

"We're seventeen. There will be none of this…marriage business. It's beyond ridiculous."

"All right, shut up, I don't want to marry you!"

The way Rory's mouth dropped, it was pretty clear the statement could have been better phrased.

"No. I mean, like, now. It's crazy, we both agree that it's crazy. The proposal wasn't for you, it was for them, you know? So they'll leave you alone?" He hoped she would get that, appreciate it on some level.

Rory started laughing. Tristan started to think maybe _he_ was missing something.

But whatever, at least she stopped hitting him.

XXX

Poor, idiotic Tristan.

Just the idea that he was actually trying to _save her_ more hassle had her laughing a trifle hysterically on and off the whole drive home. It was pretty impressive she actually made it back to Stars Hollow.

He'd thought he was helping her, trying to carry all the responsibility on his strangely sloped shoulders. Instead, he'd was giving her mother a heart attack and her grandmother some sort of wedding-plan-o-gasm.

Hopefully Lorelai would get over it. Emily certainly wouldn't.

There really would be doves. Or wandering love swans. Ugh. Rory wanted to kill Tristan just thinking about the plumage.

How could he think things would change? Like they would respect her more somehow because he'd proposed? People weren't like that. No one at their high school cared if he made an apparently honest woman of her, did they?

The concept was horrifically outdated. Rory couldn't think of anything more idiotic than getting married and surely the rest of the student body would only shun her more in agreement?

Or would they back off with him there to defend her?

Maybe people like Matt and Summer would just leave her the hell alone when he told them too. The anger Rory had been clinging to dissipated as she re-lived his intervention, the strength in his hand when she clung to him. Just having Tristan around made life easier. It didn't really matter what people thought of their relationship.

Whatever it was, exactly.

Rory pulled into the driveway and turned off the engine, not looking forward to the rest of her night. Stupid Dean. Why couldn't he just answer the phone or call her back? Why did he have to... be sitting on her porch waiting for her.

She rolled down her window. "You were supposed to call!" she yelled.

Dean started toward the driveway and Rory's heart stopped. "No! Stay there! Stop walking!"

He halted, raising his hands in surrender. "Sure. Rory, chill. What's wrong with you?"

"You have to go into the living room." Everything could still work out. He just had to follow her directions explicitly.

"Why?"

The poor guy couldn't look more confused and Rory wanted to just answer all his questions and end the torture, but it would only make it worse. This is why there was a plan, but he refused to stick to it. "It's just better, okay? Please?"

"Oh…kay," he agreed.

Dean turned toward the house, but kept going, doing a full 360 and starting back toward Rory, whose immediate reaction was to start rolling up the window to block his view.

"I need the keys," Dean interrupted her panic, which, belatedly, seemed bit counterintuitive.

Her mom wasn't home. Of course she wasn't. He wouldn't be on the porch, he'd be in the house. The plan would be going perfectly if Lorelai was there to supervise. Instead, it was painfully bludgeoned.

Rory hurled her key chain at Dean. He couldn't have just called her back the night before and let everything work out.

"Make sure to just stare right at the TV until I tell you not to," she instructed. Like she needed him to catch a glimpse of her ungainly waddle kitchenward.

"You don't want me to see you?"

"Right," she encouraged. He finally got it. "Go!"

"So it's true, then."

What? No. She was so close and now it was going all wrong. "What's true?" she asked. Maybe he didn't know.

"The rumor you're pregnant."

The plan was destroyed. She was breaking his heart from inside the car he'd built for her. No kitchen table or easy let down.

"I'm…"

"Who's the father?"

Wow, was _that_ a question she didn't want to answer.

"Let's go inside." Rory opened the car door. It didn't matter now if he saw for himself.

She didn't want to watch his eyes as they dropped to her belly, but she couldn't seem to look away as his skin whitened.

"How far along?" Dean asked, not waiting for the privacy of the house.

"About seven months."

It was impossible to miss the slight nod of Dean's head and twitch in his fingers as he counted back.

"The weekend after you dumped me." She cut off the math to save time, unable to resist reminding him that their separation hadn't been her idea.

"I assume you weren't, umm… that you wanted to?"

This was the second guy to ask that. Was there something inherently asexual about her? God.

"Sure, I did. I was hurt, I was drunk and it seemed like a good idea at the time."

Dean winced and Rory hated that sliver of her heart that reveled in his pain and wanted him to feel what she did.

"You wanted to hurt me?"

"No," she insisted.

It was more true than it wasn't.

She didn't know what else to say and they just stood on her driveway for awhile.

"I should go," he said finally.

"Yeah." She stepped aside to let him leave only to grab his arm as he passed. "I um, I need those keys."

"Right, keys." He placed them firmly into her hands and folded her fingers around them. "Good luck, Rory."

She didn't watch him leave.

XXX

Lorelai found her daughter sitting at the kitchen table. Usually, school books would be piled all around her, but Rory just sat there, sipping chocolate milk.

"Hey, kiddo. How was school?"

"Tristan proposed."

"Wow, is that why you started drinking without me?"

"Dean was here when I got home."

"What? But we had a plan!"

"He wrecked the plan. Slaughtered the plan."

Oh boy. Lorelai sighed. "Pass the bottle."

To Be Continued.


End file.
